Adding just one type of tree, bush, or plant can totally transform a space.
A couple of years ago, I planted a group of large Fernspray Hinoki cypress bushes along the carriage road just past my allée of lindens near the entrance to my Japanese Maple Woodland. They looked so beautiful, I decided to plant some more. Last year, I planted slightly smaller Fernspray Hinoki cypress bushes in between the lindens on both sides of the allée. And last week, I planted another selection of Fernspray Hinoki cypress specimens on the other side along the carriage road to my chicken coops. They all look so pretty with their delicate flattened fernlike fronds. I am looking forward to watching them mature and thrive.
Enjoy these photos.
Chamaecyparis obtusa, the Fernspray Hinoki cypress is a large-growing, upright, bush, with long, ascending branches. I knew several would be perfect at one end of the Linden Allée leading to my vegetable garden.
I planted a selection of these upright, bushy conifers in the fall of 2022.
Fernspray Hinoki cypress do best with medium moisture, in well-drained soils. They also prefer full sun to part shade and some shelter from high winds. These bushes are surrounded by other trees and a barn.
I loved how they looked so much, I decided to plant more Hinoki cypress bushes the following autumn in between the lindens of the allée, adjacent to the peafowl pen.
I purchased 16 36-inch tall bushes for this area. Spring blooming bulbs and flowers are also around the base of these bushes.
Here is the allée after the bushes are all planted. These Hinoki cypress bushes can grow several inches to a foot each year. And do you know… when the foliage is slightly crushed, it lets off an aromatic scent?
Most recently, I decided to plant more Hinoki cypress bushes on the other side of the large specimens along the carriage road leading to the chicken coops.
Each small specimen is positioned in between linden trees also planted here.
The Hinoki cypress has gracefully curved branches which hold sprays of fern-like green foliage.
The foliage color is dark green with some brighter green highlights toward the tips of the branches.
When planting, the holes must be at least two to three times as wide as the root ball, but no deeper than the root ball. Once in the hole, the top of the root ball should just be slightly higher than the soil surface.
A good fertilizer made especially for evergreens, trees and shrubs should be used. This Scotts Miracle-Gro Evergreen, Flowering Tree & Shrub fertilizer is fortified to help with transplant survival, increased water and nutrient absorption, and to encourage vigorous root growth and lush foliage.
The plant is removed from the pot and the root ball is scarified, meaning beneficial cuts are purposely made along the sides and bottom to stimulate growth.
Here is Chhiring using his Hori Hori knife to carefully scarify the root ball.
The specimen is placed into the hole and checked to make sure it is at the proper depth and the best side is facing out toward the carriage road.
The Hinoki cypress is then backfilled and soil is tamped down to ensure good contact.
These bushes will all mature so nicely here beneath the dappled shade of the lindens. These Hinoki cypress bushes are slow growing and will mature to six to eight feet tall and about four feet wide. Be sure to consider a plant’s full size when selecting a space.
And in winter, these bushes will take on a bronze hue. Once established, the Hinoki cypress is generally low-maintenance and can live to 100-years or more.
I wish you all a pleasant and safe Fourth of July holiday.
I hope you caught my segment on the TODAY Show last week. I shared a few photos on my Instagram page @MarthaStewart48. I made my rendition of a beautiful and festive American flag cake with 13 stripes for the original 13 colonies, and 50 stars for each of our 50 states.
I hope you celebrate this July Fourth Independence Day and remember its significance – a day set aside every year to commemorate the ratification of the Declaration of Independence by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, establishing the United States of America.
Here I am with TODAY Show host, Carson Daly. First, I showed him and the audience how to put together an inexpensive frame tray for the cake. For big cakes, one can make a tray to fit by using a picture frame, available at any craft store.
I embellished the frame with patriotic ribbon trims and small wooden blocks for the tray feet.
And here is a behind the scenes look at me piping the wavy American Flag cake with buttercream.
This double white sheet cake is decorated with 13 stripes and 50 stars. I used two to three pints each of red raspberries and blueberries. I also used three batches of Swiss Meringue Buttercream, which makes about five cups. All the recipes are on MarthaStewart.com
For the table, I used patriotic place settings and lots of American flags.
Each host was served a delicious piece of cake – just big enough to satisfy that sweet craving. My American Flag cake serves 24 guests.
Use red, white, and blue ribbon as a simple napkin holder.
Hosts Craig Melvin, Savannah Guthrie, Hoda Kotb, and Al Roker sat at the nearby tasting table. All the hosts loved the cake.
Over the years, I have attended many of the Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks shows in New York City. This year, the show is back over the Hudson River on the West Side of Manhattan. These next three images are from some of the light shows of years past.
I took this one in 2012 from the rooftop terrace of our former Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia office headquarters at the historic Starrett Lehigh Building.
And this one on July 4th 2011. Do you know… in early July of 1776, after the Continental Congress voted for independence from Great Britain, it was John Adams, who was a leader of the American Revolution, and later served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801, who helped inspire the July Fourth Fireworks tradition? He wrote a letter to his wife, Abigail, saying “future celebrations for this momentous occasion should include ‘illuminations,’ or fireworks… from one end of this continent to the other from this time forward and forever more.” The following year, one of the first organized July Fourth celebrations was held in Philadelphia and included a fireworks display.
From my Skylands home in Maine…
… to my Bedford, New York farm – Happy July Fourth. May we all celebrate America, its beautiful flag, and our country’s freedom. (Photo by Marcus Nilsson)
Potted plants bring life to any space - indoors and out.
I love container plants and whenever I am home I always like to keep a collection of interesting specimens in and around my Winter House where I can see them every day. Most of my potted plants are kept in my main greenhouse, so they can be monitored and maintained properly. Now that it is summertime, I have a beautiful selection of lemon cypress, Eugenia topiaries, and a variety of herbs displayed in the sunken terrace behind my kitchen.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
I feel so fortunate to have such an amazing collection of extraordinary potted plants. Not only do they enhance the overall appearance of a space, but they’ve also been known to increase creativity, reduce stress, and eliminate air pollutants. I always have some plants displayed inside, but now I also have some right outside my home.
This is a ledge along one side of the sunken garden in my back courtyard terrace. I filled the entire area with a variety of pretty herbs and topiaries.
From the upper courtyard looking down, one can see the different forms, types of foliage, and colors of the plants displayed.
These are potted lemon cypress, Cupressus macrocarpa. The lemony fragrance and golden yellowy chartreuse color make it a lovely choice for display – and using multiples of the same plant is even prettier.
Lemon cypress has a narrow, columnar habit and needled evergreen foliage. It does best in direct light, so when selecting plants to display together, consider the plants’ light requirements and group those with similar needs together.
This is a small Eugenia topiary, or an Australian Brush Cherry tree, Syzygium paniculatum. The Brush Cherry is an evergreen tree or shrub with shiny dark green leaves native to Australia and New Zealand.
It is the same as these very large potted topiary Eugenias in the upper courtyard.
A display of pretty plants can be simple as well as functional. I have lots of potted herbs, such as this oregano. Oregano is a staple in Italian cooking and is often used in salsas, tacos, enchiladas, and braised meats.
Another attractive potted herb is rosemary. Like oregano, thyme, basil, and lavender, rosemary is a member of the mint family Lamiaceae and is often used as a culinary condiment.
This is a curry plant with its silvery leaves and slightly spicy fragrance. The young leaves and shoots of the curry plant can be used to flavor meat, fish, and vegetables in Mediterranean dishes. The leaves are also a key ingredient in South Indian cooking, curries, chutneys, and other traditional recipes. Curry leaves are rich in vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and other nutrients, and have a complex flavor with notes of cumin, menthol, popcorn, and grass.
And many will recognize the leaves of sage. Common sage, Salvia officinalis, leaves are often grayish-green, but can also be purple, silver, or variegated. They are pebbly, slightly fuzzy, and can grow up to five inches long.
This topiary is Santolina chamaecyparissus, commonly called lavender cotton or gray santolina, – a small, semi-woody, tender sub-shrub with aromatic, evergreen, silver-gray foliage.
Another tip for displaying groups of plants is to use a variety of plant heights such as these lavender topiaries – they look very interesting next to the shorter potted sage.
This is an olive tree, a slow-grower with leathery, gray-green leaves that remain all year-round. This also prefers full sun, or at least six hours of direct sunlight each day.
I often underplant with sedum. Sedum is a drought-tolerant succulent that comes in many different shapes and styles. It grows well and makes a nice carpet of green under taller specimens.
One can also use pebble pea gravel to decorate the tops of pots. These stones come in an array of colors and are available in gardening supply shops.
And don’t forget to water! If you drink, so should your plants.
At the entrance to this sunken terrace, I have two potted ponytail palms flanking the gate. The ponytail palm is drought tolerant, slow-growing, and requires very little care. It’s also called Bottle palm, Elephant’s foot tree, Elephant’s foot palm, Flask lilia, and Nolina palm.
And these are the leaves of a potted Pittosporum, a tough, evergreen shrub.
Be sure to also place potted plants where they can be protected from strong winds and heavy summer rains. And consider the pots – one can add character and interest to a display by using pots with different shapes, textures, and materials.
Displaying a selection of healthy, attractive container plants outside is an easy and inexpensive way to decorate a terrace ledge, a porch, a deck table, or any place where they can be seen and enjoyed. Potted plants… they’re a good thing.
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